False Equivalence

Trying to uproot western mythology is like fighting Bermuda grass. Any gardener knows it burrows deep and in all directions. You can scarcely get rid of it once it gets started. It can even pull apart asphalt once it starts to cover over it.

One peculiar myth has to do with the silly notion that foul language is a sin. Most often the religious Karens will refer to something in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:7 — “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

The Hebrew term translated here as “take” is nasa. Jeff Benner explains that the root meaning of the term refers to bearing an ensign or a symbol of authority. The whole point is that you will not claim to serve Him when your actions would embarrass Him. This was a part of the national covenant of God with Israel.

The implication for the Covenant of Christ should be obvious: It’s not about your vocabulary, but your actions as a whole. There are boundaries for those who want to claim the benefits of His glory. Those boundaries don’t include a blanket prohibition against vulgar terminology.

The issue of foul language is not a matter of morality but civility; it has its place. There are people who would call me a filthy sinner because I wear athletic shorts most of the time, or because I don’t shave my face clean, while others who say I sin by trimming my whiskers short. We have tons of silly man-made rules that have no basis in Scripture. Do not equate cultural and social rules with God’s Word.

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Are We Saving?

Surely you’ve read this before:

Then he brought them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31 NET)

It’s the dramatic scene in Philippi where Paul and Silas had been worshiping the Lord late into night after being thrown in jail. An earthquake struck and the jailer was pretty sure his prisoners would escape, so while preparing to take his life, Paul calls out to him that there was no point in doing so because none of the prisoners had fled.

The jailer was not ignorant of their message and had a pretty good idea of their mission. In that moment he was quite certain that the deity these men proclaimed had caused the earthquake and yet moved these men to care about his life. Whatever it was they proclaimed, it was a powerful message. He was ready to listen.

And he had no pretense of knowing about whether he would go to Heaven, and likely no such concept. The biblical usage of term “saved” and “salvation” referred to something that included the man’s household if he was ready to commit to following Jesus. Evangelicals in particular choke on this, trying to explain it away. That’s because western theologians have defined “salvation” as something that does not include families in this way.

At the same time, whatever salvation is, Paul wrote repeatedly that it was not a matter of performance, and yet it was a matter of obedience. The whole New Testament says over and over again that it’s a matter of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:9-10). We’ve recounted here quite often that the word “faith” refers to commitment, a feudal submission to Christ as Lord. That was inherent in the conversation Paul and Silas had with the Roman jailer in Philippi, and he clearly understood it in those terms.

Everyone should recognize that the Greek phrase translated in most English Bibles as “believe in the Lord Jesus” refers to far more than an intellectual construct. The man was being told to embrace Jesus as his divine sovereign, to submit to Him as his master and lord. It was feudalism, plain and simple.

Inherent in the question was this man being lord of his own household, and if he held an allegiance to Jesus Christ, then it stands to reason his own household would also come under that feudal submission. Indeed, that was pretty much the whole point: The man was seeking to save his human existence. This was not some esoteric personal decision. The man was directed to become a vassal of Jesus Christ with his whole human existence.

This man surely knew the risks involved in this split loyalty between Rome and Christ. The Christian teaching was hardly the first in those days to call for such a thing. There were other religions calling for people to give their allegiance to one or more deities, and to work out the balance between that and their political loyalties. He knew that the Roman bureaucracy as a whole was inclined to view this with suspicion.

Animals were said in the Bible to have souls. Heiser went out of his way to explain once how the Hebrew word translated “soul” is associated with animals, too, but was typically translated into some other English word. Whatever salvation means, it includes the whole of Creation.

The terminology of “saving your soul” was not aimed at salvation only of some eternal element of human nature. It was a reference to your whole mortal existence. Here’s where Romans 8 & 9 comes into play: You are not able to commit your human existence to Christ if He does not give you His Spirit. You can’t do it, won’t care about it, can’t even want it. (see 8:7-8).

You’ll notice all those popular memory verses about how to be saved seem to include something besides “believe” — confess with your mouth (Romans 10:10), be baptized (Mark 16:16), call on His name (Romans 10:13), stand firm to the end (Matthew 10:22), show compassion on the needy (Matthew 25:31-46), love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:25-28), etc. All of these are contextual statements that add up to full feudal submission of your existence to Christ.

It’s not enough to recite the formula of “asking Jesus into your heart” — a phrase and concept totally absent from Scripture. The modern evangelical chatter about “getting saved” is something quite different from what Scripture actually says. Rather, there is a steep demand for your whole existence, something you cannot do unless God has called you in the first place and placed His Spirit in you. That’s just the starting point.

If God Himself has not chosen you, then none of those “how to get saved” requirements is within reach. It’s not your place in Heaven you are saving, because there’s not a thing you could do about that. It’s redeeming your life on this earth by handing it over for God to use as He sees fit.

Posted in bible | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Head-games Are Reality

A basic principle of Christian Mysticism: This world is a lie. It is not ultimate reality, but a simulation of sorts. This is a laboratory in which the truth of God’s justice is proved in how people react under certain conditions to His revelation. Our duty is to become aware of this situation and choose God’s side in His contention against those who oppose His judgment.

The opposition to God’s justice is a collection of powers and principalities, spiritual beings far above us. It includes Satan, a collection of divine advisors and beings called “Watchers”, along with others we cannot understand. The vast majority of human decisions reflect guidance from various parties in a higher realm of existence.

It should come as no surprise that virtually everything in this world is somehow fake. You and I are role-playing; that is a fundamental truth of our existence here. We can be oblivious to that but it won’t change the situation. If you are aware of it, then you are less disturbed by what happens.

A tip of the hat to Jack at Sigma Frame for sharing the following video:

It’s relatively short at less than 12 minutes, in which a psychologist (Orion Taraban) explains our existence as humans in terms of playing roles, using it to address the question of human romantic and sexual interactions (“game”). For the most part, what other people think of you is hardly what you think of yourself. You really need to get comfortable with that. Once you become aware of that dynamic, you are in a far stronger position to resist the temptations of the flesh. It’s a lot easier to recognize when someone is playing you, whether it be a human or some higher power.

But it’s essential for you to understand that this is the nature of our human existence. You cannot change it. This is not a call for some Quixotic crusade to make everyone honest. That is simply not possible; coming to the truth is not possible because humans cannot know the truth so long as they are humans. Our closest approach to reality is divine revelation, which is conveyed in symbols, not data. Being honest and telling the truth means recognizing that this realm of existence is inherently false. Why do you think Jesus invested so much time and effort into making parables and speaking in symbolism?

Thus, the very best and most holy way to live is by exploiting that understand. Our most loving interactions are based on role-playing in the sense of playfulness. We connect with the the symbolism of divine revelation for compassion and blessings. Since every human is already operating in a fantasy of some sort, we turn that tendency to fantasies of good, representations of Heaven.

Rather than head-games of darkness, we seek to call out those around us to something they might recognize as our eternal future. Since head-games are required, lets do it right. The common adult world of reality is nothing more than a mass delusion. It makes people pretend something that simply is not so when contrasted against God’s revelation. The only way to help people across that barrier is to make a playful invitation for them to join us.

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

They Are Not the Reason

One of the things we keep running into in our witness for Scripture is western utilitarian assumptions. This is whence we get the idea of “making the world a better place”. That, plus the subconscious western assumption that this world is all we have, leads to an instinctive orientation on this life instead of Eternity.

It simply is not possible to make this fallen world a better place. This world is not what God made us for, and we don’t belong here. It is slated for destruction in due time. The only way we can do anything here that matters is to glorify the Eternal Lord.

Serving His will requires an eternal orientation. We aren’t interested in making this world a better place; we want to boost His reputation while we are here. We are taking sides with God against the Darkness. I don’t bless the people around me because of their needs. My actions are aimed at making me a better witness. That is the biblical moral goal.

The issue is not the people who receive compassion, and most certainly not whether they warrant it, but the necessity of giving. I must give for His name’s sake; that’s in my own best interest. I’ll give what He has given me. If it’s not what they are willing to take, then I can do nothing for them. They are not the reason I give.

This is the theology of the Unseen Realm. Humans are the objects, not the subject. The drama of the dispute between God and His staff is the real story. We need to work out the philosophical implications of that truth, to reclaim the intellectual assumptions of biblical living. I exist only to glorify our Creator; everything else is just a matter of getting there.

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Work of the Watchers

Re: Naked Bible Podcast: Interview with Fern and Audrey — I really need to purchase the two novels Heiser published, The Facade and The Portent. They are heavily referenced in this podcast.

But more important was how stunned and excited I was to recognize things I have been saying for a long time coming out in this interview Heiser had with two women who work in a ministry that helps people who have been forcibly made schizophrenic through trauma in order to abuse them further and profit from it.

First, I need to explain why it struck me so. I’ve said that the majority of demonic deliverance (so-called) is when the victim kicks out their own “demons”. Most Christians today do not understand how so much of what Jesus did in regards to casting out evil spirits was connected to the Covenant, and how that changes the tactics. Today, you and I would not copy the way Jesus did things too precisely because we are not under that kind of national covenant, and we don’t see the same kinds of possessions He did. They had a different cause. There is some overlap, but there are significant differences.

Over the years of my adult life, I’ve been exposed to a very large amount of Charismatic ministries. It’s been quite frustrating to deal with a load of stuff I knew instinctively was nonsense. I learned a few things, but I was just turned off by the vast lore of pagan mythology that has gained root in religious organizations. And whenever I tried to express any hint of disagreement, I was asked to leave.

A good solid portion of what passes for discipleship and discipline as taught in the mainstream is actually causing trauma and contributing to people be chained to lies. It becomes spiritual abuse. Heiser’s interview episode backed me up on these concerns. The two guests are professionals who had tried a lot of that Charismatic mythology and failed. When they heard Heiser’s teaching, they were shocked at how so much of what their clients told them about the Spirit Realm was exactly what Heiser had been saying for years. The Watchers are very busy causing a lot of trouble in the churches.

I’m familiar with the experiments and crimes committed by US government agents in trying to make people schizoid to use them as agents (MKUltra among other programs). These two women are undoing that work as quickly as they can, and it’s real. I’ve seen some of this nasty stuff first hand. No, I’m not going to unload about it because it won’t help anyone. My point is that I spent a lot of years working alongside people in the military who were under the power of the Watchers and never understood what I saw, knowing only that something really stank.

Let me encourage you to set aside the time to listen to this podcast. If you don’t grasp what they are saying, ask me questions. But I’m pretty sure most of it would be answered by reading Heiser’s two novels. I’ll be ordering my copies sometime next week.

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

What Is Still Left?

If you can understand the concept of half-intentional sins, then it’s a lot easier to explain something else.

Surrendering your life to Christ (AKA “getting saved”) obligates you to the Covenant of Christ, but it does not automatically deliver all the privileges of the Covenant. You must stand where God has placed those privileges in your life. You must claim the territory and occupy it for His glory.

This not “works salvation”; it’s obedience. It’s not a question of performance, but of loyalty and submission. God is reading your heart, not your body. If your allegiance is His, He will know, and He will interact with you accordingly. But this does not oblige Him to pour out all His blessings on your individual life.

What if your religious leaders fail to teach you about the Covenant? You still lose. It will be held more against them than against you, but you still miss out on opportunities. You will fail to stake your claim on the territory God granted you as His vassal. You will fail to subdue and occupy it for His glory. Part of your life will still belong to the Devil, who will use everything he can get.

You will make mistakes and invest yourself into things that don’t glorify the Lord, but build the Kingdom of Darkness. It will hurt and make a big mess of your life. It’s not a question of individual guilt, but of missed opportunities.

Because your are misguided, you will not be fully aware of His divine calling for you. That’s the other half of the problem most Christians suffer. They have no standing to seek God’s face for a clarification of convictions; they are not fully engaged in the Covenant. They are not standing on Holy Ground.

You see, all those blessings mentioned in Scripture belong to the Covenant itself, not to us as individuals. This is a major mistake we make in western thinking. This is something Charismatics in particular typically get wrong. The Covenant owns you; you do not own it. Christ decides who gets what assigned role in His Kingdom, and you will be offered a particular selection of powers and authorities commensurate with your assignment.

If you aren’t faithful to the Covenant and all your assigned obligations, you will not be fully vested in your role. Again, you will make a lot of mistakes and become too deeply entangled in things of this world. And it will come back to bite you in the ass.

As with the teaching in Leviticus, once you realize your mistake, you can still find forgiveness and come into the Presence of the Lord. But you may also have to deal with certain consequences of your bad choices. It’s not a question of personal guilt; that’s a false concept from western thinking. God doesn’t hate you, isn’t angry with you. He is nothing like American justice. It’s a question of missed opportunities.

You can marry the wrong person, or maybe the right person under bad spiritual terms. You can have children who turn out to be hellions, or maybe you’ll get lucky. It’s pretty random without the Covenant. Within the Covenant, you will know what God asks you to face, what challenges He wants you to endure for His name. You might be another Hosea who is supposed to marry a Gomer. You might be another David with incredible talent and some flaws. You might be another Enoch who walks with God and never actually dies.

We know that Saul missed his calling. Who can say how many more in Israel failed their calling? How many times over the centuries have God’s Elect played the fool, and blew away their rich divine heritage? The question now is not you might have missed, but what is still left for you in Christ’s hands.

(This is your weekly Bible lesson delivered a little early.)

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Half-intentional Sins

Re: Heiser on Leviticus 5 — The main point Heiser makes for here is that God recognizes fine gradations in judging whether a ritual defilement was intentional or not.

In analyzing the Hebrew language of this chapter, there is at least one term that is ambiguous, a Hebrew word without a clear etymology. Thus, the root meaning is obscure, so we are left to discern from the context why something that may appear an “intentional” sin is still granted a path to reparation.

He reasons that there is a class of activity in which you may be aware that there is some risk of transgression, but you proceed anyway. It’s not meant to offend, but you are responding to a short-term window of opportunity to gain something.

He also mentions keeping silent during an investigation when the whole nation is abjured to testify of a crime they know about. The point here seems to be that some people may be hesitant out of fear or just the normal “live and let live” attitude of letting things slide if there’s no apparent great harm. Maybe you don’t know how serious it was.

In the end, it’s really a matter of your heart. God knows when you revere Him and when you are only playing along with the game. It’s certainly possible to, for example, obtain something that you didn’t know was dedicated as an offering to God. You didn’t intend to defy God, but when you discover your mistake, you must make reparations.

You may still face consequences for your actions, either through human enforcement of the law or natural results of your choice. Either way, you can still regain ritual fitness to come before God.

The whole point in the case of taking “devoted things” is that the priests make their living from such donations-in-kind. Thus, you would have the original item evaluated in terms of the Temple Shekel, pay that amount plus 20% and everything would be fine. You would also typically make an additional cleansing offering of animal or grain. It would not be meant to cleanse you, but to cleanse the Temple from your ritually defiling presence.

Again, we are so much better off with Christ as the final offering for such things.

Posted in bible | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Apologies for Substack

I wasn’t aware that Substack was trying to force me into charging for subscriptions to the blog, until someone told me they were hit with a donation page upon trying to visit my Substack. I apologize for that. It took me some digging to find out where to turn that off; the folks at Substack don’t really like hosting free accounts like mine. Hopefully this won’t get any worse.

Posted in personal | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Substack Is Up

Alright, folks — Okie Bikepacker is the address for my new Substack. The emphasis is tourism via bicycle. You’ll see chatter about biking and my experiences cycling across the state and visiting campgrounds and other places cyclists and hikers can stay. The Substack includes pictures germane to that aim, but here I’ll post the leftover shots that didn’t fit into the posts there.

First up is the River Run Ranch just north of Jones, OK. It caught my eye just as I began the first of several hills on Hogback Road.

I stopped at Wild Horse Creek for an early lunch, since I left home at 0700. If you strain your eyes a bit, you’ll see a sort of green tunnel from which the water emerges, from way back into the foliage a ways. Although the sound of water was nice, I didn’t stay too long because the sun was already starting to get hot and the only shade was in the water itself. I had been on this stretch of Highway 66 several times before, so very little of this trip was actually new until I turned off toward the lake.

This is more or less the center of town for Wellston, OK. There is a good bit more heading back down toward the current main route of Highway 66, but I wanted to see the old original route. It added some distance to the detour around construction, but I thought it was worth it. There were several really old houses, but not all of them were placed for easy photography.

This is the old downtown of Chandler, OK. I would not have seen it had I taken the shortcut both ways. I needed food, so I decided to roll through the old route and see what I could find there. It turned out to be a restaurant with no place to park my bike and a doughnut shop. Since I was burning so many calories, I opted for the latter. It wasn’t too bad, but I kept burping the cinnamon flavoring of the apple fritter for a couple of hours, since I don’t eat that kind of stuff very often.

Not all of the old store fronts are in use. This pair were at the bottom of the hill running out of town, and it’s no longer a good business location. I can see why no one puts a business here. Still, at least the city does what it can to preserve historical structures, even if that doesn’t amount to much. At the very bottom of that hill, there is a sharp turn to the right, and it’s pretty chewed up pavement. I had to swerve my bike out to the center edge of the lane to avoid it. Fortunately, there was no one behind me. Just a couple more businesses and the town fades out.

Last up is this old railroad overpass near Warwick. A handful of other shots didn’t turn out well. I’m really ready for a good camera so I can get better shots of stuff.

Apology: Substack instituted a new default to have people pay some kind of subscription to receive updates. It took me digging awhile to turn that off. You should be able to subscribe now for free.

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Recalibrating after the First

My experience has taught me several lessons. I need to recalibrate how I approach the task.

1. Allergens: Here in the OKC Metro there aren’t that many allergens that affect me. Sleeping in my own home also provides some protection. Out in the country in places like the Chandler area, where there are large number of low lying swampy areas growing allergens, things were quite different. By the time I arrived at the campsite, I could smell something whacking my sinuses. It was pretty bad. After the shower, it was reduced, but then plagued me all night long. Turns out that my beard and hair were allergen collectors. You can look it up online, but it’s a known medical issue. Yes, the beard and hair must go if I continue this mission. As I write this, I am now back to my default look from past years.

2. The load: That trailer was the smartest move I could make. No regrets. However, I should have brought the hammock, not the tent with the air mattress. I would have been far more comfortable in a hammock, going from previous experience. I did sleep well enough, better than I expected, but there was no place to sit and the tent is a real hassle getting in and out. In the future, I’ll work harder at ascertaining whether a hammock can work.

3. Saddle: Leather saddles are great, but I’m having an issue with this particular one. For the time being, I’ll switch to the Zizzo Comfort Saddle and see if things improve.

4. Food: There are several complications with this issue. The biggest one is that my appetite doesn’t match the calories I burned. My digestion feels like it goes to sleep on long rides, and I more-or-less have to make myself eat. My food choices for this trip were just an extension of what I’ve always done, but I need to study different options. Trail food and daily eating habits are not the same stuff.

5. Too hard: I went out hard like I always do, heading out at 0700, and arrived at the campsite about 1300 hours local time. On the ride back today, I didn’t have my usual strength. It took a lot longer and I ended up stopping quite frequently out of breath. I need to pay more attention to the load and what it demands of me heading out. I should break more often and simply sit for a while. And it may turn out that 40 miles may be my sane limit for one day’s ride. I’ll keep an eye on that as I resume local training rides.

Everything else will be covered in my review of the ride and campsite. That and photos should show up tomorrow; I’m taking the day off riding (for obvious reasons) and I’ll initiate a Substack blog which will be linked here.

Posted in cycling | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments